Fly Rods & Rainbows

[LockedandLoaded]

Trolled for an hour or so this morning with a few different lures and no luck. Switched over to the fly rod and an olive wooly bugger and caught 11 fish in just under 2 hours. Fun day and the weather is amazing.
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[albinotrout]

Nice! With this weather the way it is, just gotta take advantage of it.[cool]
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[flygoddess]

That is my choice of fishing[]
Curious though, you can troll a Woolly Bigger with you Lure rig.
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[richyd4u]

[quote flygoddess]That is my choice of fishing[]
Curious though, you can troll a Woolly Bigger with you Lure rig.[/quote]

Mine too! The title of this thread encompasses two of my favorite things in life, lol. I believe he said he switched to the "fly rod" and used a bugger...

Looks like fun! Tight lines!
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[fishnate]

I do a lot of very successful fly trolling and casting from my float tube using my 7' and 8' spinning rods using various amounts of splitshot. I also fish chironomids, hare's ears, pheasant-tails and scuds under a Thill float. It can work pretty good at times. I still prefer a fly rod for these techniques, but I can still get it done with spinning gear when I have to.
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[LockedandLoaded]

Sure you can drag a fly behind a spin casting set-up, but if one is going to fish with a fly, in my opinion it's a whole lot more fun to do it with a fly rod.

When I wasn't catching fish trolling, I switched to just drifting and casting followed by a very slow retrieve.
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[fishnate]

I certainly wasn't disputing the enjoyment of using a fly rod, I use them plenty. I was just responding to flygoddess questioning ones ability to use other gear to effectively fish a wooly bugger or other flies when I do it all the time (in lakes, but not so much in streams). I won't say that I can fish a dry fly behind a casting bubble as effectively.

As far as fun and enjoyment goes, I enjoy the length and the action of the rod. I don't particularly care for false casting and having gobs of fly line in my lap tangling in my other gear or around my feet or trying to outreel a fish on a 1:1 fly reel. I fish with Bass Pro Shops 7' Micro Lite and an 8' Micro Lite Float n' Fly spinning rods made for casting ultralite jigs (or wooly buggers with a couple of BB shot) or presenting them under small floats which is very similar to fly fishing with an indicator. These rods are about like 3 wt and 5 wt fly rods but with spinning reels attached. Only difference for me is the lure delivery system and I have a little more control over the fish. In my experience both methods are fun and effective which is the bottom line for me. [cool]
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[PBH]

[quote flygoddess]
Curious though, you can troll a Woolly Bigger with you Lure rig.[/quote]

We do this with the kids (or ourselves) all the time when trolling from the boat. It's no different than trolling a triple-teaser, needlefish, or or any other light-weight lure. Rig it with a slip sinker, swivel, leader, then the bugger (or lure). Troll at slow speeds.

It's not much different than tying on a needlefish to the end of your tippet on your fly-rod rig, and dragging that around.
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[brookieguy1]

[quote fishnate]I certainly wasn't disputing the enjoyment of using a fly rod, I use them plenty. I was just responding to flygoddess questioning ones ability to use other gear to effectively fish a wooly bugger or other flies when I do it all the time (in lakes, but not so much in streams). I won't say that I can fish a dry fly behind a casting bubble as effectively.

As far as fun and enjoyment goes, I enjoy the length and the action of the rod. I don't particularly care for false casting and having gobs of fly line in my lap tangling in my other gear or around my feet or trying to outreel a fish on a 1:1 fly reel. I fish with Bass Pro Shops 7' Micro Lite and an 8' Micro Lite Float n' Fly spinning rods made for casting ultralite jigs (or wooly buggers with a couple of BB shot) or presenting them under small floats which is very similar to fly fishing with an indicator. These rods are about like 3 wt and 5 wt fly rods but with spinning reels attached. Only difference for me is the lure delivery system and I have a little more control over the fish. In my experience both methods are fun and effective which is the bottom line for me. [cool][/quote]Bingo. I learned the fine art of fly & bubble fishing years ago. We would do very well at waters like Strawberry, Flaming Gorge etc. with a wooly WORM (buggers weren't around yet) double renegades, and barber poles. I thought it was a blast casting 80 yards out and hooking those big cutts, 'bows and back then brookies at Strawberry. We still sometimes throw the 'ole fly and bubble at the Gorge for big rainbows and an occasional brown. It can be as simple or as refined as any other type of fishing.
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